An Overview

The government owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) operates 126 airports and civil enclaves out of a total of 449 airports and airstrips located throughout India.
100 airports/aerodromes receive regular commercial flights. The cities of Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi and Mumbai are served by privately (or joint-venture) operated airports. Airports in India handled over 341 million passengers in 2018. India is the third largest domestic civil aviation market in the world behind the USA and China.

Mumbai CSI Airport - Terminal 2 (Domestic)

Mumbai CSI Airport (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport) has two terminal complexes of which the newer Terminal 2 handles all international flights. Domestic flights operated by Air India and Vistara are also handled through T2. International and domestic departure concourses are segregated although a common check-in hall is in use.
Domestic low-cost carriers operate from the Terminal 1 complex.
The huge terminal with its outstanding architecture began operations in early 2014 starting with all international flights. Domestic flights of the three aforementioned airlines were shifted to T2 in 2015/16 in a staggered manner.
The terminal floor area extends some 450 000 m2 making it the second largest single passenger air terminal in India after Delhi IGI Airport Terminal 3.
Mumbai Airport handled just under 50 million passengers in 2018 (23rd busiest airport in the world in 2018 by passenger throughput) and has the distinction of being the busiest single runway (active) airport in the world having overtaken London Gatwick. The record number of air movements for a single day was just over 1 000 in 2018.
Over 50 airlines from across the world serve the airport on a scheduled basis in addition to almost 20 freighter operators.

Cochin International Airport - Terminal 3

Cochin International Airport (CIAL) was opened in 1999 and was the first airport in India developed under a private-public partnership model. The new international terminal T3 with a floor area of 140 000 m2 was opened in 2017.
CIAL is the fourth busiest airport in India for international traffic handling 5.23 million passengers in FY2018 (10.2 m passengers incl. domestic in 2018). 25 airlines serve the airport. In 2015 the airport became the first fully solar-powered airport in the world with a captive 40 MW capacity photovoltaic solar power plant.
T3 is brightly lit and spacious and features a large duty-free shop and other retail outlets, an adequate food court and a large departure concourse. The terminal has five aerobridges.

Click on page scroller at the bottom of the report to navigate to any of the airport flight reports.

JetKonnect (Jet Airways) flight video from Mumbai to Kochi

Although JetKonnect (earlier JetLite) was merged with Jet Airways some years ago the airline still uses the original airline code of Air Sahara (S2) which was taken over by Jet Airways in 2007.
Air Sahara was one of the first private airlines in India along with ModiLuft, Jet Airways, East-West Airlines and Damania. Jet Airways suspended all operations in Apr '19.

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) handled 69.9 million passengers in 2018 ranking it as the 11th busiest airport in the world.

Privatization and Airport Modernisation

Delhi IGIA ranked as the 12th busiest airport (passenger volume) in the world in 2018 while Mumbai CSIA ranked as the 28th busiest airport in the same year. Delhi's IGIA and Mumbai's CSIA airports handled ca 69.9 million and 49.9 million passengers respectively in 2018.

The airport features three runways, incl. a ILS Cat. IIIb runway (11R/29L and 4,430 m long). Expansion of the domestic LCC terminal complex (1D/1C) is underway. Terminal 1 is located in the old Palam (name of Delhi airport till 1986) section of the airport. The terminal is used by SpiceJet and IndiGo. For domestic flights IndiGo operates from T1, T2 (IndiGo flight nos. 6E 5000 to 6E 5999) and T3 (6E 5000 to 6E 5999). SpiceJet operates all flights from T1 excl. flight nos. SG 8000 to SG 8999 which operate from T3. GoAir operates all domestic flights from T2 (which was refurbished earlier on and is now used by GoAir, IndiGo and SpiceJet).

Delhi IGI Airport handled on an average 1 216 daily takeoffs and landings in Jul 2019.

Delhi airport is planning to expand the present domestic terminal 1D serving low-cost carriers besides constructing new taxiways, apron expansion and a fourth runway at a total cost of ₹ 98 bn. More on the expansion works planned in the following video:

Mumbai CSIA Terminal 2 Domestic - Flight Information Displays

Mumbai's Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSIA) features an outstanding integrated terminal with a total floor area of 439 000 m², 38 aerobridges and a capacity to handle 40 m passengers annually is operational. The international section of the terminal began operating in Feb 2014. Air India, AirAsia India, selected GoAir (flight# G8 2000 to G8 2999) and IndiGo (flight# 6E 5300 to 6E 5399) flights and Vistara operate domestic flights from T2 while the other domestic airlines (selected SpiceJet flights operate from T2 and wef Oct 1 all SpiceJet flights will operate from T2) operate from the terminal 1 complex. The old domestic terminal complex has 11 in-contact gates. The 1C terminal has six aerobridges and a floor area of approx. 27 500 m² and is connected to terminals 1A and 1B through escalators and walkways. The airport set a new world aircraft traffic movement record for a single runway (in effect) airport by handling 1 004 landings and takeoffs during a 24 hr period in Dec '18.
Mumbai CSI airport handled an average of 846 daily takeoffs and landings in Jul 2019.

Patna, Lucknow, Pune, Port Blair, Tiruchirappalli and Guwahati are some of the airports where new passenger terminals are to be constructed.

With the inauguration of the greenfield airport facility at Pakyong (Sikkim) in Sep '18, all the states of India have air connectivity. The Pakyong airfield is located at a height of 1 399 m (among the highest in India) and is capable of handling upto ATR/Q400 turboprop sized aircraft and scheduled air commenced in Oct '18. SpiceJet suspended flights to Pakyong due to unpredictable weather during the monsoon season. Flight operations are due to resume wef Oct 27.

A new 3 600 m² passenger terminal was commissioned at Belagavi airport in Sep '17 while the passenger terminal at Jammu airport has been expanded to 14 500 m².

A new passenger terminal has been planned for Patna's Jay Prakash Narayan Airport with a floor area covering 65 000 m² (the present terminal has a floor space of 7 200 m²) and a project cost of ₹ 12 bn. The new terminal will be capable of handling 4.5 m passengers annually. Completion is estimated by end-21.

The airport serving Jabalpur will be expanded at a cost of ₹4.1 bn including a new domestic passenger terminal with an area of 9 350 m². The runway length will be increased to 2 750 m enabling the operation of larger aircraft such as the Airbus A320.

A new airport was inaugurated close to the temple town of Shirdi, Maharashtra in Oct '17. The airport was developed at a cost of ₹ 3.5 bn and features a 2 750 m² passenger terminal capable of handling upto 300 pax/hr. Kishangarh airport serving Kishangarh, Ajmer and Pushkar was commissioned in Oct '17. The airport handled over 4.7 m passengers in 2017/18.

A new integrated passenger terminal is under construction at Tiruchirappalli Airport which has seen a spurt in passenger traffic in recent years. The proposed terminal costing approx. ₹ 9 bn will have a total floor area covering 67 500 m², 10 aerobridges and a designed annual capacity for 2.4 m passengers. The new terminal is expected to be completed by end-21. The impressive terminal was designed by Pascall+Watson.

A new integrated terminal (floor area 84 000 m²) will be constructed at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, serving Lucknow and the busiest airport in Uttar Pradesh. The cost for the new terminal is estimated at ₹ 14 bn. Lucknow Airport's new terminal is expected to be completed by end-21.

A new integrated terminal is under construction at northeast India's busiest airport, Guwahati Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport. The terminal is being built at a cost of ₹ 12 bn and will have a floor area of 102 500 m² considerably larger than the existing passenger terminal with a floor area of approx. 20 000 m². The terminal is expected to be completed by 2021. A new passenger terminal building is under construction at Agartala Airport (Meghalaya) at an estimated cost of ₹ 5 bn.

A new terminal costing ₹3.6 bn will be constructed at Pune's Lohegaon airport due to a brisk increase in passenger traffic. The passenger terminal will cover an area of 40 000 m² (almost double the size of the currently in use 22 000 m² terminal) and is planned to be completed by end 2021.

AAI has plans to invest ca ₹ 190 bn for upgradation of various airports till 2022. This includes the addition of over 270 new aircraft parking bays at various airports.

A greenfield airport is under construction at a cost of approx. ₹ 5 bn in Sindhudurg district (Maharashtra) at Parule Chipi.

Scheduled passenger airline traffic incl. jet aircraft service commenced in Apr '19 at the upgraded airport located in Jharsuguda, Odisha. A new passenger terminal was inaugurated at Gorakhpur Airport in 2018. The present airstrip at Deogarh, Jharkhand is also being modernised at an estimated cost of ₹ 4 bn to cater to scheduled jet air service in the future. Spread over 600 acres the airport will include a new 4 000 m² passenger terminal and a runway extended to 2 500 m in length. A new passenger terminal is under construction at the airport located in Darbhanga in north central Bihar.

A new integrated passenger terminal is planned to be constructed at Vijayawada's Gannavaram airport at a cost of ₹ 6 bn. The terminal will cover a floor area of 35 000 m². The passenger terminal building at Visakhapatnam Airport is to be expanded to 29 000 m².

A new airport located at Oravakallu near Kurnool (AP) was inaugurated in Jan '19.

A new passenger terminal built at a cost of ₹ 1.6 bn was commissioned at Bamrauli Airport located near Allahabad (Prayagraj) in Dec '18.

The present 18 600 m² passenger terminal at Mangaluru Bajpe Airport is being expanded at an estimated cost of ₹ 1.3 bn to facilitate the growing number of passengers using the airport. The expansion (planned to be completed by Q2/20) will add another 10 000 m² incl. four new baggage conveyor belts and two additional aerobridges (four aerobridges are in use in the present intergrated terminal).

A new 19 000 m² passenger terminal is planned to be constructed (cost ₹ 5 bn) at Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport, among the highest airports in the world situated at an altitude 3 256 m, and serving Leh. Completion date has been set for Sep '21.

Commercial passenger airline service operated under the UDAN (Ude Desh ke Aam Nagrik) Regional Connectivity Scheme is planned to commence by July at the Hindon Air Force Base located in Ghaziabad (UP). Hindon will serve Delhi/ NCR.

Expansion is planned for the 62 000 m² integrated passenger terminal at Goa Dabolim Airport with a 18 300 m² extension costing ₹ 2.56 bn. The extension is expected to be ompleted by end '21.

Green Airports

Vadodara Airport's new integrated 17 500 m² passenger terminal (over double the size of the old domestic terminal) was inaugurated in Oct '16 and is rated as India's second green terminal after Cochin International Airport.

Kolkata and Chennai Airports

Kolkata NSCB (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose) international airport was modernised at an approx. cost of ₹ 25 billion. An integral part of the modernisation plan was the construction of a new 195 000 m² integrated passenger terminal with a capacity to handle 20 million passengers a year (Kolkata's two previous terminals were designed to handle 5 m passengers a year). The new RJMM designed terminal was inaugurated in Jan 2013. NSCB airport handled a record 18.9 m passengers in 2017. A metro rail line is under construction which will facilitate rail connectivity from the airport to the existing Kolkata Metro's north-south line at Noapara. Another metro line connecting the airport with Garia is also under construction. Kolkata airport is constrained by land and cannot expand capacitywise that much in the future. Terminal and aircraft parking capacity will be expanded by utilising the old domestic terminal and constructing additional parking stands but the airport does not have sufficient land for a second parallel runway that could be used simultaneously with the present main runway. This by and large limits the number of air movements the airport can handle to a single runway. An extension to the present domestic departure area has been planned by demolishing the adjacent old domestic terminal. The extension terminal has been planned to add over 70 000 m² of floor area (domestic) in the first phase of expansion and include 10 additional aerobridges. Eventually the old tower block and old international terminal are also planned for demolition with further extension of the integrated passenger terminal.
Kolkata NSCB airport handled on an average 440 daily takeoffs and landings in Jul 2019.

Kolkata NSCB was formerly known as Dum Dum Airport until 1995 when the airport name was officially changed to NSCB Int'l Airport.

Chennai airport's completed modernisation included a new domestic terminal (67 700 m²) and international terminal (59 000 m²) with a total capacity to handle 23 m (7 m international and 16 m domestic) passengers annually. The second phase (work to commence in 2018 at an estimated total cost of approx. ₹ 25 bn) would include the integration of the present domestic and international terminals into one seamless layout with a capacity of 35 m passengers per annum. Terminal floor area will increase to 336 000 m². A new international terminal will replace the present old international and domestic terminals and is estimated to be ready by 2022. Construction of a new greenfield airport is also under study for Chennai. Chennai airport handled 19.6 m passengers in 2017 and city connectivity improved with the opening of the Chennai Metro Airport station.
Chennai airport handled on an average 457 daily takeoffs and landings in Jul 2019.

Other Private Airports

Kempegowda International Airport - Bengaluru

The Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru, located approx. 40 kms north of Bengaluru city at Devanahalli off the NH 7 highway began commercial operations in May 2008.
Construction of the estimated ₹ 25 bn airport, spread over an area of over 3,800 acres, began in 2005. Equity shareholders in the airport include Siemen Project Ventures GmbH (26 % stake), Fairfax Financial (48 %), Airports Authority of India (13 %) and the Govt. of Karnataka through KSIIDC (13 %). The rectangular shaped modern integrated terminal has a total floor space of 150 000 m² making it one of India's largest passenger air terminal buildings. The apron can hold upto 42 aircraft at a time, including 15 in-contact stands.
The construction of a second 255 000 m² passenger terminal, with an initial annual capacity of 25 million passengers in the first phase, will be undertaken by L&T. The new terminal is estimated to be completed in 2021 and the investment is valued at approx. ₹ 30 bn. The first validation flight landed on the second runway in Aug. The new parallel runway is planned to be commerically operational by end '19.

A fleet of modern buses provide transport on 11 routes covering all the major points in the city. The Vayu Vajra buses are operated by BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation). Dedicated airport taxis also serve passengers.
An Oberoi Trident hotel is located near the passenger terminal. Flybus buses depart for Mysuru 12xdaily in addition to a daily service to Mangaluru/Manipal and Kundapur.
Bengaluru KIAL handled on an average 620 daily takeoffs and landings in Jul 2019.

Hyderabad International Airport

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport covering a total area of 5 495 acres at Shamshabad near Hyderabad began commercial operations in Mar 2008. The cost of the first phase was estimated at ₹23 billion. The airport stakeholders include the GMR Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, AAI (Airports Authority of India) and the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. The airport's initial passenger handling capacity is 12 million, which is roughly double the number of passengers handled (6.78 m in 2007) at the old Begumpet Airport.

The integrated and interim domestic arrival and international departure terminals cover a total floor space of over 120 000 m². The interim international departure terminal covering an area of approx. 10 000 m² was commissioned in Oct '18. An interim domestic arrivals hall covering an area of 4 000 m² with four baggage carousels was commissioned in Mar '19. The airport authorities have accounced long-term plans to increase capacity by expanding the present terminal and builing a new second terminal. The apron includes 42 airplane stands of which 12 are in-contact (aerobridge). The runway is currently South Asia's longest at 4 260 meters.
City access by bus is provided by Pushpak Airport Liner buses (5 lines). Various AP and TN state transport bus routes also serve the airport. Public radio taxis are provided by Meru and Skycabs. Accomodation is available at the 305 room Novotel Hyderabad Airport hotel in the vicinity of the airport. Air-India and Lufthansa Technik have MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facilities at the airport. RGIA handled over 20.9 million passengers in 2018. The airport handled on an average 491 daily takeoffs and landings in Jul 2019.

Cochin International Airport

Cochin International Airport (CIAL), India's first privately operated airport, handled approx. 188 daily aircraft movements on an average and over 10.2 m passengers in 2017/18 and 2018 respectively. The combined floor area of the two old terminals is ca 54 000 m² while the new international terminal (T3) extends over 140 000 m². The old international terminal was refurbished/converted to handle domestic operations and opened in Dec '18. The domestic terminal features seven aerobridges and 56 check-in counters. Cochin International Airport handled on an average 185 daily takeoffs and landings in Jul 2019.

Above pics: Cochin International Airport (CIAL) as seen shortly after take off in 2005. A 3400 m long parallel taxiway, not seen in the image, is operational. CIAL handled approx. 10.2 m passengers in 2018 and an average of almost 195 daily aircraft landings and takeoffs in fiscal 2018/19 ranking the airport as India's eight busiest airport. The domestic terminal handled 4.5 million passengers in 2017. 25 airlines serve the airport.

Kerala's fourth international greenfield airport, located in Kannur (Cannanore) in Northern Kerala, was inaugurated on Dec 9 '18. Air India Express operated the first scheduled departure bound for Abu Dhabi. The airport features a 97 000 m² integrated passenger terminal (8th largest in India) and a 3 050 m runway and with a total project cost of ₹ 22.9 bn. The first test flight landed in Feb '16. The airport is being promoted on a private public partnership model, stakeholders include AAI, Govt of Kerala and Bharat Petroleum. The ICAO and IATA codes for the airport are VOKN and CNN respectively. International airlines do not serve the airport.Kannur International Airport handled on an average 44 daily takeoffs and landings in Jul 2019.

Upcoming Greenfield Airports

Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA)

A second airport is being developed in Ulwe (Raigad district) close to Panvel Creek south of Navi Mumbai. The airport will feature two parallel east-west runways and a passenger terminal capable of handling initially upto 10 million passengers per annum. The airport will occupy an area of 11.6 km². According to CIDCO (the nodal state agency for the airport) the first phase of the airport is expected to be completed as early as 2020 while IATA's more realistic estimate for the completion of the first phase is 2022-2023. Pre-development work began in Nov '17. The airport is being developed in a PPP (Public Private Partnership) with GVK holding a 74 % stake and CIDCO the remaining 26 %.

Goa International Airport (Mopa International Airport)

A greenfield airport is under construction (on hold) at Mopa, North Goa at an estimated cost of ₹ 30 billion. The 1500 acre airport is being developed by GMR Airport Ltd. The initial capacity of the airport terminal is 5 m per annum. The present passenger terminal at Dabolim airport has a floor area of 62 000 m² and a designed passenger throughput of 7.8 m per annum, slightly less than the actual 8.3 m passengers handled by the airport in 2018.

Rajkot

AAI is developing a new airport at Hirasar at an estimated cost of ₹ 14 bn as the existing airport serving Rajkot cannot be expanded. The new airport site expands over 2500 acres and is located 27 kms east of the existing airport.

North-East India

A new airport is planned for construction in the state of Arunachal Pradesh on a site located at Holangi.